General News

Opps, we made a mistake. Originally this post had stated that eHarmony US and Canada were having a free communication weekend starting today August 28th until August 31st. It looks like we were incorrect. As reported 2 weeks ago the eHarmony Free Communication Weekend is still on (as of right now) for the UK and Australia (see Story). We do expect a free promotion to come soon for the US and Canada, if past experience is any indication. Most likely Canada's will be held on the Labour Day Holiday weekend (Sept. 4th-7th).

Read our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular online matchmaking service in the United Kingdom and Australia.

A press release from Chemistry highlights the fact their chief scientific advisor Dr. Helen Fisher, has determined through research that success in the bedroom may lead to a more rewarding career. In a study she did using data from 40,000 Chemistry members where 56 percent were woman and the average age was 27, Dr. Fisher found:

... increased sexual activity may lead to an improvement in problem-solving, confidence and teamwork.

These skills may see improvements due to the fact of the chemicals which are released in the human body during sexual activities. As example, sex increases testosterone which has been linked to self confidence. The rush some people feel during sex is due to Dopamine, which has been linked to improved creativity. After sex both women and men receive a boost of Oxytocin and Vasopressin. These chemicals generate trust and attachment. These personality traits are all tied to how well you succeed in life, therefore a person who excels in all of these personality traits most likely will have a successful career as well.

To find out more about the dating site Dr. Helen Fisher represents, check out our Chemistry review.

I am glad to see eHarmony responding in their official blog to an article titled "Marriage-Maker Claims Are Tied in Knots " from the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ article examines some of the marriage statistics released by dating sites like eHarmony as well as the methodology used to calculate such statistics. We talked a bit about this topic as well, a couple of weeks ago when the original WSJ article was published (see Story).

The WSJ article didn't look to kindly on the stats released by dating sites, and for the most part I agree with the author. The public does need to know how these statistics are generated. Of all the dating sites mentioned in the WSJ article, "eHarmony stands out as among the more careful ones". This is not exactly a glowing report for eHarmony so, they decided to post a response on their blog.

In the eHarmony blog post they go into further details on how they calculated that their dating site was responsible for 2% of marriages in the United States, from the 12-month period ending March 2007. Most of the information we already knew about from a previously released PDF file titled "eHarmony | Harris Interactive 2007 Marriage Metrics Number of eHarmony Marriages" (see Story), but the post does flush out a few more details. What this blog post does show is, eHarmony is trying to be as open and transparent with their research findings as possible. I think the name "Open Communication" may indeed be a good choice for the official eHarmony blog.

Here is the full eHarmony response to the Wall Street Journal about how they calculate their marriage statistics. For further information about this dating site, read our review of eHarmony.

Muslima.com and a few other Cupid Media dating sites have received new home page designs. The new design includes the registration fields on the home page instead of the standard search fields allowing you to specify gender, location and age range. This new format does allow you to view profiles without creating an account first, but only by using the Men's and Women's galleries. For full search capabilities visitors must create a free members account.

We also got word that Cupid Media's IT team is working to improve the user experience and as a result, they are currently rolling out brand new hardware and databases for the entire Cupid Media dating network. This means the sites will not only load faster and experience less down time but will also offer users additional options for customizations and site features in the near future. The first website software upgrade on the list is the local search feature. When it has been upgraded we will review the changes in another blog post and update our Muslima review.

For more information on the dating site, read our review of Muslima.com.

On this day in the year 2000, eHarmony launched their dating service.

Happy 9th Birthday eHarmony!

To get a history of eHarmony from an employee who has worked their for 8 years, check out the eHarmony Blog and to find out why this is such a popular dating site, read our eHarmony review.

CheckedProfile.com is a new service designed to allow people to have their photo's and email address verified. They soon plan to have 5 levels of verification which will allow people to verify Name, Age, Country, Phone, Address and Net Worth. Only the first level is available now and prices range from free to $99.99 USD for all levels of service. CheckedProfile is aimed at people who use dating sites and social networks. The problem of profile and photo dishonesty is not new and there are already several other companies offering similar services which we have talked about before (see Story).

The way CheckedProfile works (at least for the level 1 photo verification) is you create an account an upload the photo you want verified. The service then gives you a custom alphanumeric code which is unique to your picture. You then need to put the code on a piece of paper and take a picture of yourself holding the paper. This new photo then is uploaded to CheckedProfile. Once verified (by an actual person) you will then get your original photo back with a verified stamp integrated into it along with a code. People interested in you, can now visit CheckedProfile.com to type in the code from the photo to verify that the photo has indeed been verified (along with any other information).

As with most of these type of services there are a few holes in the verification process that if people wanted to, they could circumvent. For one thing, a scammer could just steal someone else's photo that already has been verified and pass it off as his own. A scammer could also mock up a photo with the verified information, it may not pass the test when someone checks it on the website but I bet not everyone will understand that they need to do this. The last problem I see is, someone could just get their good looking friend to do the process for them. While CheckedProfile's verification process is not 100 percent it is a step in the right direction. If they improve on the verification methods maybe it will become one I would recommend.

Visit CheckedProfile.com directly and for more services designed to help you succeed in dating, take a look at our Dating Profile Help category.